Enrichment planting is commonly used for increasing the density of tree species in secondary forests and one of forest rehabilitation programs in Lao PDR. This study aimed to determine the performance of five native species in enrichment planting using different canopy opening treatments, and to examine the suitable species and silviculture techniques applicable to a logged-over forest in Lao PDR. Results of the study showed that only crown height had significant difference among species and planting treatments. The survival rate and crown diameter were significantly different by species, but not by planting treatments. However, root collar diameter (RCD) and height of seedlings showed significant differences among planting treatments. Among the study species, Hopea odorata and Dalbergia cochinchinensis showed significantly higher survival rate and height growth, indicating their suitability in enrichment planting for rehabilitation of forest in Lao PDR. The results also suggested that 2 m width line planting stimulated RCD growth, but wider line planting, such as gap planting, promoted height growth of seedlings.

Demand for high resolution weather data grows in the agriculture and forestry fields. Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) can be used to analyze the local weather at high spatial and temporal resolution, utilizing the data from various sources including numerical weather prediction models, wind or temperature profilers, Automated Weather Station (AWS) networks, radars, and satellites. LAPS has been set to analyze weather elements such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction every hour at the spatial resolution of for Gyeonggi-do on near real-time basis. The AWS data were revised by adding the agricultural field AWS data (33 stations) in addition to the KMA data. The analysis periods were from 1 to 31 August 2009 and from 15 to 21 February 2010. The comparison of the LAPS output showed the smaller errors when using the agricultural AWS observation data together with the KMA data as its input data than using only either the agricultural or KMA AWS data. The accuracy of the current system needs improvement by further optimization of analyzing options of the system. However, the system is highly applicable to various fields in agriculture and forestry because it can provide site specific data with reasonable time intervals.

Larix kaempferi and Betula costata seedlings were grown under an elevated temperature () for four weeks to understand initial changes on physiological characteristics caused by temperature rising in connection with global warming. At the end of the treatment, growth performance, leaf pigment content, antioxidative enzyme activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were measured and analyzed. Relative growth rates of the height of two tree species grown under elevated temperature () were lower than those of control () and dry weights of leaves, stems and roots were also reduced at higher temperature. Particularly, the root growth reduction of two tree species increased markedly at over the study period, which increased the ratio of shoot to root. Under higher temperature, leaf pigment contents decreased, whereas anti-oxidative enzyme activities such as ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) increased as compared with the control. But MDA content was not affected by elevated temperature. In conclusion, the elevated temperature leads to root growth reduction, restriction of nutrient uptake from soil and the reduction of leaf pigment contents, which can inhibit the aboveground growth. In addition, higher temperature might act as a stress factor that causes growth reduction through the increase of energy consumption during a growth period.

Eupatilin, one of representative medical components of mugwort, can be efficiently extracted from the `Gangwha Sajabalssuk`. The Eupatilin content may depend on environmental factors such as soil and regional climate in addition to a genetic factor and Gangwha region has a profitable environmental condition for the mugwort growth. In this study, the climatological characteristics of Gangwha was analyzed in order to find the environmental condition of mugwort containing high Eupatilin in term of atmospheric, oceanographic and land variables. The climate of Gangwha is characterized by the relatively low daily temperature and large diurnal variation with plenty of solar radiation, long sunshine duration and less cloudiness. According to our correlation analysis, the long sunshine duration and the large diurnal temperature variation are highly correlated with the Eupatilin contents. The result implies that Gangwha has the favorable conditions for the cultivation and the habitat of the high-Eupatilin concentrated mugwort. Because of the sea surrounding Gangwha Island with low salinity and moderate wind, the salt contained in sea breeze is relatively low compared to other regions. Furthermore, Gangwha has clean atmospheric environment compared to other regions because the concentrations of toxic gases harmful to crop growth such as nitrogen dioxide (), sulfite gas () and fine dust (PM-10) are lower in the air. The ozone () concentration is moderate and within the level of natural production. It is also found that moderately coarse texture or fine loamy soils known as good for water drainage and for the growth and cultivation of the `Gangwha-mugwort` are distributed throughout the areas around mountainous districts in Gangwha, coinciding with those of mugwort habitat.

This study was conducted to investigate the chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic characteristics, chlorophyll fluorescence, and growth performance of Parasenecio firmus under changing light environment. Parasenecio firmus was grown under non-treated (full sunlight) and three different shading conditions (88~93%, 65~75% and 45%~55% of full sunlight) for the experiment. Total chlorophyll content, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), T/R ratio, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area ratio (LAR), and leaf weight ratio (LWR) were increased with increasing shading level, but decreased dark respiration. Therefore, light absorption and light utilization efficiency were improved under the low intensity light. Plants under 65~75% of full sunlight had best maximum photosynthetic rate and net apparent quantum yield in May. On the other hand, the non-treated plants had lower maximum photosynthetic rate, photochemical efficiency, and chlorophyll content than the treated ones. Parasenecio firmus considered to be a sciophyte, is fairly sensitive to high intensity light. If 88-93% of full sunlight lasts for a long period, photosynthetic capacity will be sharply decreased, though limiting light. These results suggest that growth of Parasenecio firmus adapted to 65~75% of full sunlight.

This study was conducted to estimate forest site productivity and productive areas of Quercus acutissima and Quercus mongolica using environmental factors including climatic variables. Using the data set from digital forest site map and forest climatic map, a total of 42 environmental variables were regressed on site index for developing the best site index equations for Quercus acutissima and Quercus mongolica. Five to six environmental factors by species were selected as independent variables in the best site index equations. For the site index equations, three evaluation statistics (i.e., mean difference, standard deviation of difference, and standard error of difference) were applied to the test data set for the validation of the results, The site index equations fitted well to the test data set with relatively low bias and variation. As a result, it was concluded that the site index equations by species were well capable of estimating site quality. Finally, based on the site index equations, the productive areas by species were estimated by applying GIS technique to the digital forest maps. In addition, the distribution of productive areas by species was illustrated.